CONTOUR Spacecraft Launches from Cape Canaveral NASA Mission on Course to
Provide Unparalleled Look at Comets
July 3, 2002
NASA's Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft - set to provide the
closest look yet at the "heart" of a comet - successfully launched today at
2:47 a.m. EDT aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station, Fla.
Designed and built by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., the 2,138-pound (970-kilogram) spacecraft
was placed into an elliptical Earth orbit 63 minutes after launch. About 19
minutes later the mission operations team at APL acquired a signal from the
spacecraft through the Deep Space Network antenna station in Goldstone,
Calif., and by 5:45 a.m. EDT Mission Director Dr. Robert W. Farquhar of the
Applied Physics Lab confirmed the craft was operating normally and ready to
carry out its early orbit maneuvers.
"CONTOUR's launch was a spectacular start to an important project," says Dr.
Stamatios M. Krimigis, head of the APL Space Department. "CONTOUR is
next in the growing lineup of missions to explore small planetary bodies -
such as comets and asteroids - and we expect it will add much to what little
we know about these ancient samples of the solar system's original
materials."
CONTOUR will orbit Earth until Aug. 15, when it's scheduled to fire its main
engine and enter a comet-chasing orbit around the sun. The mission's
flexible four-year plan includes encounters with comets Encke (Nov. 12, 2003)
and Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (June 19, 2006), though it can add an
encounter with a "new" and scientifically valuable comet from the outer solar
system, should one be discovered in time for CONTOUR to fly past it.
CONTOUR's four scientific instruments will take detailed pictures and measure
the chemical makeup of each comet's nucleus - a chunk of ice and rock -
while analyzing the surrounding gas and dust.
The 8-sided solar-powered craft will fly as close as 62 miles (100 kilometers)
from each nucleus, protected by a 10-inch-thick, layered dust shield of heavy
Nextel and Kevlar fabric. Scientists expect the data to reveal the differences
between comet nuclei and answer questions about the role comets had in
shaping the Earth and other planets.
"We're looking forward to a fantastic mission," says APL's Edward L.
Reynolds, who at launch assumed the role of CONTOUR project manager
from Mary C. Chiu, who is retiring from the Applied Physics Laboratory. "From
mission design and operations at APL, to the navigation group at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, to the science effort headed by Cornell University, this
team includes the talent and expertise needed to capture and deliver the
best data yet on a comet's nucleus."
The $159 million CONTOUR is the sixth mission in NASA's Discovery Program
of lower cost, scientifically focused exploration projects. APL manages the
mission, built the spacecraft and its two cameras, and will operate CONTOUR
during flight. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., provided
CONTOUR's neutral gas/ion mass spectrometer and von Hoerner & Sulger,
GmbH, Schwetzingen, Germany, built the dust analyzer. NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., will provide navigation and Deep Space Network
(DSN) support. Dr. Joseph Veverka, CONTOUR's principal investigator from
Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., leads a science team of co-investigators from
universities, industry and government agencies in the U.S. and Europe.
Media Contacts:
Michael Buckley (The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory)
(240) 228-7536 or (443) 778-7536
michael.buckley@jhuapl.edu
Donald Savage (NASA Headquarters)
(202) 358-1547
dsavage@nq.nasa.gov
George Diller (NASA Kennedy Space Center)
(321) 867-2468
george.diller-1@ksc.nasa.gov